News

The approach expected to be used by Apple Retail to sell and promote the Apple Watch has been unveiled in a new report by 9to5Mac. The strategy will focus on “three key features” as well as a plan to encourage Apple Watch customers to adopt the latest iPhone models. Citing sources within Apple Retail, the new selling guidelines indicate that Apple believes “many customers have already decided they want an Apple Watch.” The company expects to leverage the Apple Watch to “position the benefits” of users either upgrading to the latest iPhone model or switching to the iPhone from other platforms. Retail employees have been specifically instructed to “highlight the ways Apple Watch will add value” to a customer’s life, before asking a variety of iPhone-related questions. It’s interesting that Apple appears convinced of customers’ desire to buy an Apple Watch — as the report notes, employees aren’t instructed to make a “hard sales pitch” regarding the device.

Apple took back the throne as the world’s top-selling phone manufacturer in the final quarter of 2014, according to Gartner, Inc. Sales of the iPhone made up more than 20 percent of the total phone market, narrowly edging out Samsung for the first time since 2011. Apple reported its best quarter ever at the end of 2014, selling 74.8 million units. The increase is attributed to Apple’s strong ecosystem of products and the release of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which were a concession to users in the U.S. and China looking for bigger screens than previous iPhone models ever provided.

Criminals who stole iPhones and iPads are phishing for iCloud information from the very people they robbed in a new scam, according to Symnantec’s security blog. Some users with lost or stolen devices have reportedly received messages informing them that their device has been found — these users are then sent links to fraudulent websites that often incorporate the word “icloud” into the URL and are made to look like the real iCloud login page. Once the thieves have the user’s iCloud credentials, they’re able to turn off Lost Mode and use or sell the device. Symantec warns users with lost devices to be wary when receiving unsolicited messages and to carefully examine URLs before entering any information. [via MacWorld]

A U.S. judge appears ready to accept a $415 million offer to settle a lawsuit accusing Apple and three other Silicon Valley companies of conspiring to keep employee wages low, Reuters reports. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh rejected an earlier $324 million offer as too low after one of the plaintiffs objected. Apple, Intel, Google and Adobe are accused of agreeing not to recruit employees from the other companies, limiting job mobility to keep salaries lower. The lawsuit, filed in 2011, was largely based on emails from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and leaders at the other rival companies.

Apple has filed to expand protection of its brand name and logo to the automotive industry in Switzerland, ApfelBlog reports. Public filings made by Apple lawyers to Swiss regulators request protection of Apple’s trademarks to be used with multiple types of vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, golf carts, trains, planes and ships. Though not a major development, it’s another sign pointing to Apple’s rumored car plans; a recent report claimed the company intends to produce an electric vehicle by 2020.

Apple CEO Tim Cook told a group of employees in Berlin that the Apple Watch will be available in countries other than the U.S. this April, 9to5Mac reports. Germany will also get an April launch for the smartwatch, Cook said. It’s possible the U.S. launch could occur early in the month, with other countries getting the device in late April. But there’s also the possibility Apple Watch will roll out in the U.S. and other countries simultaneously. We’re certain to hear details on the launch schedule during Apple’s March 9 event.

The Apple Watch will have a “Power Reserve” feature that will let the watch run in low energy mode while only displaying the time, The New York Times reports. As of now, it’s unclear how the feature will be activated. Apple claims the watch’s battery will last a full day, requiring an overnight charge, and it’s unknown how much Power Reserve will affect this estimate. We’re likely to hear more details on this low-power mode — and any other Apple Watch features still yet to be announced — at Apple’s “Spring Forward” event, scheduled for Monday, March 9.

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In a stop in London during his European tour, Apple CEO Tim Cook made some more interesting comments on the Apple Watch, The Telegraph reports. Touting the revolutionary features of Apple’s upcoming wearable device, Cook highlighted Apple Pay and the fitness aspects, but also described other “potentially revolutionary uses,” notably saying that the Apple Watch “is designed to be able to replace car keys and the clumsy, large fobs that are now used by many vehicles.” While it’s unclear whether Cook was referring to this as a long-term application or a feature for the device’s initial launch, Apple has already demonstrated apps from companies such as Starwood Hotels that could employ the Apple Watch to replace traditional room keycards, and a BMW iDrive app was also visible in the initial demonstrations of the Apple Watch last fall. Of course, Apple’s alleged plans to develop its own electric car will likely integrate the Apple Watch in some way, but with a vehicle not expected to arrive until 2020, it’s a safe assumption that the company’s ambitions for the Apple Watch are somewhat nearer term.

Ericsson has escalated its legal dispute with Apple, Bloomberg reports. The Swedish phone maker announced that it plans to file seven new lawsuits in a U.S. court as well as a request to the U.S. International Trade Commission to block Apple products from being sold in the U.S. Last month, Apple and Ericsson filed several suits against each other over LTE patents, after Apple’s license to use Ericsson’s technology expired and re-negotiations broke down between the two companies. Ericsson’s latest series of complaints allege that Apple has infringed as many as 41 patents related to mobile device communications, user interfaces, battery conservation, and the operating system itself.

In other patent litigation news, after Apple was ordered to pay $532.9 million to Smartflash, LLC earlier this week, Reuters reports that the Texas-based patent licensing company has launched a second lawsuit against the larger company, over the same patents’ continued use in devices that were introduced after the original case began. The $532.9m settlement in the original case was awarded to Smartflash as a result of Apple using the company’s patents in all devices capable of accessing iTunes up to the point the lawsuit was filed, but it excluded the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPad Air 2. This second salvo by Smartflash is intended to make Apple pay the royalties deemed necessary by the original case, applied to these newer devices, as well.

Apple has sent out media invitations for an event on March 9, with the tagline “Spring forward.” The Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco will host the event. It’s expected that the event will mainly focus on the Apple Watch, which is scheduled for an April release, but some other surprises may also be in store. [via The Loop]

Update: Apple has announced that it will stream the event live on its website. The event takes place at 10 a.m. Pacific time, March 9.

Brikk, a company that produces high-end versions of tech and lifestyle products, has announced Lux Watch, an expensive line of modified diamond-studded Apple Watches. The Lux Watch is available in three versions — Standard, Deluxe, and Omni — with prices set based on its materials, size, and the amount of diamonds included. A Lux Watch Standard starts at $7,500, while the Lux Watch Omni in 24-karat yellow gold can reach a price as high as $75,000, with 12.30 carats of diamonds on the 42mm version of the watch. Brikk is now accepting pre-orders on Lux Watch, which will ship four to six weeks after the Apple Watch’s release.

While only a select group of people will have interest in Lux Watch, it raises a few other questions about the price of Apple’s 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition. Estimates for the Edition have ranged from $4,000 to $20,000, with lots of guesses in between. Though certainly not out of the question, it would nonetheless be peculiar for a diamond-studded version of the Apple Watch — coming in 24-karat yellow gold, 18-karat pink gold, or platinum — to cost less than Apple’s own Edition. [via MacRumors]

Apple has been adding new data providers to Apple Maps, according to a new report from Apple Maps Marketing. The report notes several new services have recently appeared as suppliers of “Business Listings Data” in Apple’s Maps Acknowledgements page. Some of the notable new providers include GasBuddy, which provides gas price information, and GreatSchools, which provides school reviews and other school-related data. Although none of this data appears to have been incorporated into any actual Apple Maps listings, the appearance of these providers suggests that Apple is taking steps to integrate direct feeds from specialty services to enhance the amount of information available in Apple Maps. The report goes on to note that there may be a number of other companies beta testing integration with Apple Maps under typical Apple non-disclosure agreements.

Apple has been ordered to pay $532.9 million in an iTunes patent infringement case, Bloomberg reports. Texas-based Smartflash LLC brought a suit against Apple claiming that the Cupertino company infringed three patents related to iTunes digital rights management and “inventions related to data storage and managing access through patent systems.” The original claim sought $852 million in damages as an entitlement to a percentage of sales of all of Apple’s devices capable of accessing iTunes.

Apple had responded to the allegations by stating that it did not recognize the Smartflash patents, pointing out that “Smartflash makes no products, has no employees, creates no jobs, has no U.S. presence, and is exploiting our patent system to seek royalties for technology Apple invented.” Apple lawyers repeatedly argued that the patents in question were invalid and that Smartflash’s royalty demands were “excessive and unsupportable,” noting that Apple should not be required to pay royalties on the full price of an iPhone when the dispute only pertains to a single feature, stating that “It doesn’t make a lick of sense that one person would buy an iPhone and not make calls.” Apple notes that it will appeal the decision. Smartflash, which appears to be in the sole business of having licensed seven patents, has also launched patent infringement claims against Samsung, Google, and Amazon.

Apple is planning some significant changes to how Genius Bar appointments are handled in its retail stores, according to a new report from 9to5Mac. Citing several inside sources, the report notes that the initiative, dubbed “The new Concierge,” is expected to launch in Apple’s U.S. retail stores starting in early March. Under the new system, customers walking into a store and looking for a Genius Bar appointment will be placed on a priority-based wait list after describing their issue to an Apple Store employee, and will then receive a wait time based on how “important” the issue is. So a customer with a broken iPhone screen would be automatically prioritized over somebody seeking help with a more minor issue. Customers can then provide a phone number to receive text messages with time updates, so they can continue shopping elsewhere in the area and know when to return to the Apple Store for their scheduled appointment.

The brainchild of Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Retail Operations, the new system is being heralded by Apple employees as “one of the most significant changes to Apple Store operations in several years” and is expected to reduce congestion in Apple Stores and hopefully make customers happier by reducing fatigue and impatience while waiting for appointments. At this point, the new system will only apply to walk-in Genius Bar requests, however; appointments booked online will continue to be scheduled for specific times as they have been in the past.

Apple has acquired music software developer Camel Audio, according to a new report from MacRumors. Citing information found on a corporate registry site, the report notes that the U.K.-based company’s address has been updated to match that of Apple’s London office, and the sole director of the company is listed as a member of Apple’s legal team. Camel Audio was best known for Alchemy, its modular music editing suite that incorporated a range of plug-ins, synthesizers, effects, and sound libraries, along with powerful resynthesis engines and other features. The developer shut down most of its operations early last month, although at the time no reason was given for the sudden change; this latest information suggests Camel Audio quietly wound down its operations after being acquired by Apple. While it’s unclear what Apple’s specific plans may be for Camel Audio, it seems reasonable that the company’s technologies and talents will be directed toward work on Apple products such as Logic Pro X or GarageBand.

VISA has announced that it will be introducing a new payment “tokenization” service in Europe designed to help facilitate mobile payment solutions. Intended to be available for European financial institutions to take advantage of as early as April, the new service will replace traditional plastic credit card numbers with unique one-time tokens that can be used to authorize payments without needing to expose account information. This form of one-time “tokenization” is a key component of the security behind Apple Pay, and while the VISA announcement simply mentions mobile devices and contactless payments in general terms, it seems likely that this development is intended to at least indirectly provide support for a future rollout of Apple Pay within the European Union. [via TNW]

Apple has released a second beta of iOS 8.3 to registered developers, continuing its parallel iOS 8.3 beta cycle which started earlier this month alongside the iOS 8.2 betas. This latest beta features a build number of 12F5037c and details few changes in the release notes from the prior beta. According to a report last week, Apple plans to begin releasing public betas with iOS 8.3 sometime in March; this second developer beta is likely the last for this version prior to the beginning of the public beta cycle.

Despite being listed as a partner company on Apple’s CarPlay page, Toyota currently has “no plans to adopt [...] CarPlay in the United States,” according to an article from The New York Times. The report mostly examines how Google and Apple are vying to develop the best in-car dashboard systems. John Hanson, the national manager of Toyota’s advanced technology communications, noted that the company is in frequent talks with both companies, but that the car maker currently prefers to use its “own in-house proprietary platforms for those kinds of functions.” Hanson conceded that the company may “eventually wind up there,” which may explain why Toyota remains a CarPlay partner, but the lack of any specific plans in this case raises questions about how soon CarPlay may actually be coming to new vehicles from any of Apple’s listed CarPlay partners. While it also remains unclear as to whether Toyota may implement CarPlay in other markets — considering that Hanson specifically limited his comments to the company’s U.S. operations — it’s worth noting that as a national manager, he likely wouldn’t comment on what Toyota’s plans may be outside of the U.S.

The latest edition of iLounge Weekly, our weekly newsletter covering all things iLounge, will be arriving in subscribers’ inboxes early next week. iLounge Weekly is a summary of the week’s best news, reviews, and feature articles we’ve published, and it also features giveaways and accessory discount offers from various companies. There’s still plenty of time to sign up and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address, if you haven’t done so already.